Genie® distributor Sendhamarai rides industry momentum with impressive growth.
The Indian economy has been experiencing robust growth driven by its infrastructure sector. In 2016, the country leapt 19 places on the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) to 35
th position. The country is expected to invest US$454.83-billion on infrastructure development over the next five years, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transportation) initiative, as well as the Smart City Challenge.
Riding the industry momentum is the Chennai-based Sendhamarai Engineering Private Limited. Established since 2003 as a manufacturer and supplier of industrial scaffolding, Sendhamarai experienced a growth spurt of between 60 to 70 percent in the last three years when it became a Genie® aerial equipment distributor.
The growth of Sendhamarai can largely be attributed to the foresight of its founder and managing director P Sritharan. “The construction industry in Chennai has been growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent. It is an indicator of the industry boom at the national level. The best way to leverage on it is to quickly expand our service offering and reach. Partnering with Genie was an obvious choice given its reputation for cutting-edge engineering and safety features in all its machines. It gives us the competitive edge we needed to capture a bigger market share,” says Sritharan.
Today, Sendhamarai has four more offices in addition to its head office in Chennai. These include Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, and the latest in Hyderabad, which was established in June last year. Sendhamarai boasts a fleet of 88 Genie Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs) fleet and staff strength of more than 100. “Increasing our footprint in India allows us to get closer to our customers and deploy our machines faster,” says Sritharan.
Built on a solid foundation of service and safety
“Like Genie, Sendhamarai was also built on a solid foundation of customer satisfaction and safety practices. We are probably the only company in India that offers ‘instant’ demonstration for prospective clients,” says Balaji, the company’s Business Development Manager. “We have the capability to deploy our sales and operation team on a very short notice. It is a result of our relentless focus on ensuring high levels of service right from the start of our relationship with a customer.”
They also host a training centre run by 14 trainers. Every new operator undergoes a rigorous training schedule on every Genie model in the fleet so that he or she can handle immediate repairs when deployed at the jobsite, thereby reducing machine downtime. They also have a communication procedure with the service unit for major repairs.
Every machine deployed comes with a well-trained operator and Annual Manual Contract that entitles customers to regular servicing and maintenance after the initial warranty period ends. They have a team of 20 service staff to attend to any machine issues efficiently.
Sendhamarai has been involved in high-profile projects with brands like Michelin Tyres, where 40 MEWPs were deployed, and also L&T, Blue Star, Siemens, Honeywell and ALSTOM. Some of the infrastructure building project that they were involved in includes the Chennai and Mumbai Metro Rail Development, the Western Corridor and Hybrid Solar-Wind Park 4 in Gujarat.
Going further
Sendhamarai has also found a high demand for Genie machines in the mechanical, electrical and plumbing sectors. The company has grabbed 40 percent market share today. But, they are not ready to rest on their laurels.
Currently, they are training a batch of 40 new operators and are planning to buy 33 more Genie machines to be ready for instant deployment as the demand for MEWPs continues to rise.
Construction equipment industry in India is expected to increase from US$3-billion in 2016 to US$5-billion in 2020. “A good portion of our customer is from referrals from other customers. It is a testament to our motto of customer satisfaction and machine safety as a priority. Over the years, we have built a solid reputation as a reliable brand in the industry,” concludes Sritharan.